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I woke up Tuesday morning early and went and soaked in the jacuzzi tub. Warm water jetted at sore muscles is a wonderful invention and I sat reading a novel and sipping fine diet Pepsi and got totally relaxed. Kathy got up and we decided to head over to the Biltmore Estates to visit the 'largest family home' in North America. It was built by Cornelius Vander Bilt, a Dutchman who inherited millions at a time when millions were like billions today. He fell in love with the Ashville area and decided to build a mansion that would rival the great homes of Europe. He hired the greatest architect of the day and the greatest landscape artist and set to work. It is an impressive place. His library holds 22,000 rare and first edition books and he has a pipe organ in his dining hall that seats 48 people at a huge hand carved table with ornate silk chairs all around the room. They could, of course, seat many more if they so desired. They had a small 'family table' at one end if they had no guests. The house had hundreds of bedrooms and bathrooms and an indoor heated pool and a smoking room, a gun room, a gymnasium, a servant dining hall, a laundry that was bigger than my house, an indoor garden, many sitting rooms, and rooms to house the cooks and gardeners and maids, and valets, and servants all of whom were required to be single. Interestingly there were quite a few marriages among the servants. Mr. Vander Bilt was a bachelor when he started the project but fell in love with a New York girl and they married and he brought her to live at the mansion. They had one child, a little girl, and then Cornelius died while still in his thirties from complications following a surgery. We were told that the cost of maintaining the property was too great and they began to make and sell wine as well as selling butter and cream and other products they grew on the estate to help defray costs. By the time the lady of the house took over the stock market crash of 1929 had occurred and she was financially devastated. She sold 90,000 acres of land to the US government to create the Pisgah National Forest and then her children and grandchildren began the process of creating a public tour of the house. It is still owned by the great grandchildren today and they live elsewhere on the property.
The gardens were spectacular and Kathy and I found a trail that no one else seemed to take and got to climb up high to a spot where we found we could look down at the entire house and garden and enjoy the beauty of bright colored flowers and the immaculate gardens. Kathy loves her garden and will probably now have lots of ideas that will require Derek and I moving heavy pots and digging in the dirt.
At lunch we went to the former stables converted to a restaurant and had a barbecue platter that included pulled pork, ribs, and some chicken with vinegar and tomato based sauces as well as collard greens, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, fried green tomatoes, homemade pickles, and sweet potato creme brulee for dessert. It was delicious and we felt very Southern. We continued to walk the grounds and got to hang out with the carriage horses and the sheep and cattle as well as hiking down to the bass pond which was kept stocked for the pleasure of the guests to the estate. I enjoyed it all but one of my favorite parts was how Mr. Vander Bilt decided he wanted a place to raise his children in the faith and had an Episcopalian church built. When the bishop assigned a priest the priest went to visit Mr. Vander Bilt to say thank you. Mr. Vander Bilt had asked him to leave his Bible in the carriage when he came into the mansion which the priest did and when he returned to the carriage he discovered a check to cover his salary and all the expenses of the church for the year. Included was a note that he was not to tell anyone and that all the regular collections of the church should be used to help the poor and to take care of those in need. Each year the priest left his Bible in his carriage when he was invited to the estate and each year the check was discovered in the Bible.
It was after seven before we left the estate and we grabbed a quick meal at a local bar and grill. We were still full from lunch so we took half of our food back to the hotel to use as a breakfast the next morning before returning home.
Wednesday we rose early and packed and began the four hour trip back to Raleigh. It was raining hard as we left and we drove through low hanging clouds before leaving the mountains. We stopped at a barbecue place for lunch and then got to the airport two hours early, returned the rental car, and made it through security with our cooler full of frozen shrimp. Kathy kept asking me if I had my phone. I don't know why.
Derek picked us up at the airport. He was late arriving because he couldn't find the keys to the car and had to search for a while. I think it was a passive/aggressive thing to get even for having to return to the airport last week to get me my forgotten phone. We arrived at home and are deeply grateful for a refreshing time away. We are renewed and restored and are eager to get back to the mission and ministries God has called us to. What a great time he gave us! |
